Poet Patricia Smith, author of First-Year Studies work, delivers Winter Term 2025 Convocation address

Patricia Smith speaking at Winter Term Convocations. Photo by Jacob Hanekamp.

On Friday, Jan. 24 at 12:30 p.m., poet and spoken-word performer Patricia Smith delivered the Winter Term Convocation address in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. She discussed the power of persona poems through her poetry collection on Hurricane Katrina, “Blood Dazzler,” which was included in this year’s First-Year Studies curriculum, as well as several other pieces utilizing the poetic strategy.

The event opened with a musical performance of “High Water Everywhere” by Charley Patton, performed by senior Preston Parker.

Following the performance, Associate Professor of English Melissa Range introduced Smith, highlighting her many accomplishments, and first-year Nick Lubin shared a short poem reflecting on his experience with Smith’s “Blood Dazzler” in his First-Year Studies class, expressing gratitude for the chance to explore the work before welcoming the poet to the podium.

Smith began her speech by talking about growing up and discovering poetry through local slam competitions in her home city of Chicago and how she came to her passion of spoken-word performance.

Patricia Smith speaking at Winter Term Convocations. Photo by Jacob Hanekamp.

During her address, Smith performed a selection of persona poems through the voices of those she said often go unheard or unseen, such as in her poem about an undertaker working with the mothers of young victims of gun violence, where she drew on both the undertaker and the mothers’ voices. Smith said the personas in her work speak through her, allowing her to articulate their voices through writing and performance.

Smith spoke about personal experiences in which she experienced reactions from her audience, such as when she performed her undertaker poem and found out that two women in the audience were mothers of sons killed by gun violence, or when she talked about her son’s incarceration and others in the audience then told their own stories. Smith went on to talk about her realization of the responsibility poetry carries and the importance of the stories told and who they impact.

She then discussed her inspiration process in deciding to write “Blood Dazzler.”

Smith concluded her address with the very first reading of her latest poem, titled “Scars Poetica.”